Looking for Home
by MojoTheSpaceMonkey
Summary: Sometimes when it gets too tough, all you can do is start over and try something new. Thrown into a new world after experiencing the worst loss in his life, all Naruto can do is try to find a new dream to achieve. The question is will the different factions in Azeroth give him the opportunity to.
1. Chapter 1

Looking for Home

Chapter 1: It Could Always Be Worse...

Hinata breathed in deeply, a shudder passing through her frame as her lungs struggled to take in enough air to supply her damaged body. The Hyuga heiress spared a glance to her left, seeing Naruto pinned to the ground by those terrible black rods stabbed through his body. Her Naruto, the light in the darkness that had been her young life before she had matured enough to begin standing up for herself. His enthusiasm and encouragement had not only given her the courage to stand up to her father and the elders, but had also returned her cousin Neji back to her from his own mental purgatory he had been trapped in after his father had died. And now her blonde savior was helpless before the monster that had single handedly destroyed Konoha, the rinnegan wielding self proclaimed god known as Pain.

She had used her first few attacks to break two of the eight black rods stabbing Naruto into the ground. Common sense told her that the best chance for everyone's survival would be releasing Konoha's jinchuriki from his imprisonment instead of engaging the 'god' on her own. Pain had seen through this strategy early on though, using his power over gravity to violently repel her anytime she was able to draw close to Naruto. Drawing herself up from the ground again, she dropped into her personal version of the gentle fist. She poured her chakra into the tenketsu on her fists, twin lion heads forming as she felt her energy reserves begin to drop already. She disregarded the danger, committing everything she had to the attack knowing there would be no second chances.

Pain stood back, allowing her the moment needed to form the attack as he observed it with curiosity. His eyes allowed him to see the chakra form around her body, twisting in ways that had never been observed before by the god. He raised an eyebrow in as she charged at him in a straight line with her fist cocked back. 'Really?' he thought with amusement as he leaned to the side to dodge the attack, 'The most refined form of taijutsu in the elemental nations and you're acting like you're in a bar fight?' He stayed just a step out of her range as the attack chain continued, leaping over a sweeping kick from the young woman before giving himself a little distance to prepare a suitable counter attack for the poor showing she had just done. He paused as a grin appeared on her face before she changed direction mid step, flying to her left and bringing down her fists over the Kyuubi container. Two more of the precious chakra control rods broke apart, leaving four remaining. It was becoming dangerously close to the point where he would no longer be able to suppress the blonde's chakra. Pain was no longer amused. The gravity attack he used this time was three times more powerful, sending the poor woman flying through the air like a rag doll only to land in a heap.

Naruto flinched as he watched the dust cloud slowly raise up from where Hinata landed. She had already done more than enough, fighting against such losing odds. His pleas for her to run had all been ignored. The bluette had gone about her task of freeing him with a single mindedness that eerily reminded him of his own actions in the past. He couldn't fathom what could possibly motivate her to go so far from him. Pain apparently shared the confusion as they watched the girl slowly pull herself to her feet again. She began to limp forward, favoring her right leg as her left arm dangled uselessly at her side. "Why?" the god asked as he watched her slow progression. "I don't understand why someone weak like you would try to resist. Why fight me… knowing that you'll die?"

Hinata fell to her knees, crawling the last few feet before grasping the rod sticking out of Naruto's shoulder. "I stand by what I say…" she whispered as she worked to pull it out. Naruto raised his head, straining to hear her voice as the blood pumping through his ears threatened to drown out everything else with it's loud pulse. "I do it because that's my ninja way" she finished, quoting one of the first things the blonde had said in front of her years ago. "I love you Naruto" she whispered, leaning in to kiss his forehead.

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He groaned to himself as feeling slowly returned to his body, pain being the primary thing on his mind. Kakashi had woken up in darkness, panicking for a moment before the scent of dust and smoke had him realize that he wasn't simply buried alive. Taking stock of his injuries, he realized that he had no feeling below his waist and his chakra was barely a trickle in his coils. Flaring his pitiful reserves, he pushed upwards with his arms against the rubble above him. His efforts were rewarded a short moment later as a sliver of daylight shown through into the darkness. He redoubled his efforts, widening the hole enough to pull himself up and out. The ninja was rewarded with his first view of the devastation that had once been Konoha. The sprawling city that he had worked so hard to save had been reduced to a crater that he had apparently been buried in the side of. His heart sank at the view, before going even lower as he noticed no other survivors in sight.

A commotion at the center of the crater drew his attention, prompting the broken man to pull himself to the top of the rubble pile. He watched as Hinata confronted the bastard that had caused all of the pain and suffering while Naruto lay helpless to the side. Channeling chakra to his ears, he was barely able to make out the conversation between the enemy and the kunoichi as they fought. He cringed at the last hit Hinata took, silently willing her to flee before it was too late. It was not to be though as she drug herself back to her not-so-secret crush using everything she had left in her. He couldn't help growing emotional as she finally admitted her true feelings to Naruto as they both lay there.

The moment was not meant to last though, as Pain fired one final gravity blast at the helpless woman. She was pushed into the air before driven into the ground at dizzying speeds at his feet. Wasting no time, the false god produced another chakra rod before driving it into the unconscious kunoichi. The world seemed to pause as if nature itself was too horrified at the brutality it had just witnessed. Then a pulse of chakra flew through the crater; Kakashi quickly identifying it as Naruto's before it warped into something familiarly dark that could only have been the Kyuubi coming to life.

Two of the rods in the blonde's back shattered as the chakra in the air began to thicken. Naruto's eyes remained blank, staring straight ahead at Hinata's body. The shock of her murder mixed with the suddenness of her confession overloaded his mind, allowing the perfect opportunity for the Kyuubi to surge forward and take control. The jinchuriki's eyes flared red as his canines began to elongate. The whisker marks on his cheeks began to thicken as his hair spiked even more, giving him a feral appearance.

"This can't happen" Kakashi murmured in horror as he pulled himself the rest of the way to the lip of the crater, positioning his body to face the battle below. There was no one left who was capable of suppressing the Kyuubi's malicious chakra and if Naruto lost control than any survivors would meet a terrible fate. The only other hope would be for the so called Pain to be able to stop him, leaving the blonde at the mercy of the Akatsuki. "I'm sorry Naruto" the dying man said softly as he forced open his left eye, revealing a black pinwheel shaped pupil on a red iris. A single tear of blood ran from his eye, down his cheek as he pushed his remaining chakra into it. A small vortex slowly formed in front of it, reality warping as the space time jutsu took effect. A larger version of the vortex formed around Naruto just as his eyes became a burning red color, pulling the blonde into it before disappearing into nothingness. Pain simply stared at the now empty ground in disbelief. He had been so close to completing his dream.

Kakashi sighed in relief, the jutsu ending as the final wisps of his chakra were used up. It was funny, he reflected to himself as he lay on his back and stared up at the afternoon sun. The other times he had chakra exhaustion before, there had always been extreme pain accompanying it. Now, he felt nothing but peace. The corners of his vision began to blacken, barely allowing him to see a similar vortex as his own open up a few feet above him. A man stepped out of it clothed a black cloak with red clouds, his orange spiral mask focusing on nothing but the copycat ninja. "Do you realize what you've done?" the man screamed in rage as he lifted the dying ninja up by his collar. "You've ruined everything!"

Kakashi's head lolled his head to the left, staring off at something in the distance as his breathing began to grow shallow. The orange masked man followed his line of sight, finding a broken stone obelisk laying on it's side. Name's were carved into every surface of it, some very familiar to both men. "Those... who abandon their… friends…" was all the copycat ninja was able to wheeze before his eyes shut for the last time, his sharingan disappearing and the eye going a milky white.

"Are worse than trash…" the mysterious man finished for him as he slowly lowered the body to the ground. Maybe it was time for a new dream…

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Merel'dres was having a perfect week. He had been summoned into the Blasted Lands a month ago by a group of cultists who had professed to serve the Burning Legion. When he opened his eyes, he found himself pressed into a large summoning circle with ten of his brethren. The circle was bathed in the still wet blood of the corpses that lay in a circle around it, their throats each sliced neatly from ear to ear. "They did their job well" said the sole surviving cultist, an orc with sickly green skin who leaned heavily on a dark staff. "You have been called here to serve!" he shouted at the gathered demons, his voice barely carrying to them in his exhausted state. "We need to retake control of the land around the Dark Portal if we hope to ever begin the invasion again!" His body was wracked with a coughing fit, causing him to double over in pain.

The forcefield around the summoning circle flickered. Merel'dres pushed a talon against it, his eyebrows raising in glee as he was able to pass through it with minimal effort. His wings beat in a flurry as he flew forward with a roar. The orc didn't even have a moment to react before he was skewered on the felguard's sword, groaning as he slid down the blade towards his killer. "Fool!" the demon gloated as the life began to leave his victim's eyes. "Never call the legion if you have not the power to control it!" He sank his fangs into the corpse's shoulder, hungrily devouring the pitiful mana still remaining. His magic core expanded to fit the new power running through his body, the mana quickly being converted to the fel magic that was the demon's life force.

"Come brothers!" he roared as he hefted his sword in the air, the green blood coating it, glinting in the sunlight. "Let us make for the portal. I have no urge to return to the nether yet and we might just find something worth killing on the way!" His voice was soon joined by the others as they formed up behind him along with two felhounds that had gathered to watch the summoning and feed off the ambient magic in the air.

That had been three days ago and Merel'dres had vowed to never return to the twisting nether again. They had come across a party of Kirin Tor mages as the men were running a complicated test on the portal. Their attention drawn towards whatever readings flashed in front of their faces as their spell did it's work. The demons managed to sneak within a few dozen feet of the distracted wizards before they were even sensed. Loosing the felhounds to lead the charge, the demons hurtled forward en masse. Two of them were killed to lightning bolts and another fell under a hail of ice shards before the demons were among the humans and too close for any large spells to be used. Two of the human's fell under the combined weight of the remaining felguards, the demons fighting each other over the rights to drain their victims.

Merel'dres had the privilege as leader of the pack to not need to share. He slowly advanced on the leader of the mages, the man groaning in pain as he was held down by the two remaining felhounds. The felguard grunted in annoyance, kicking the beasts off of it's prey before grabbing the human by the neck and lifting it off the ground to hold at eye level. "What could possibly have had you so concerned that you never even noticed our approach?" he growled, squeezing softly when an answer wasn't immediately forthcoming.

The human gasped, frantically trying to draw in air as the felguard gripped it's windpipe. Letting up pressure, the human wheezed in a gulp of air, his eyes slowly opening to regard the demon in front of him with disgust. "We detected massive energy spikes coming through the portal demon filth…" he whispered, pain dancing across his face as he fought to remain conscious. "The fact that you were unaware removes our prime suspicion that it was legion activity…" He stared down at the swarmingf demons to his right, the only sign of his friends being a trail of blood that flowed away from the pile to pool in a dip in the ground. He glared at his captor, spitting in the demon's face with his last strength. "Hopefully whatever comes through will send you all back to the nether where your kind belong!"

Wasting no more time, Merel'dres pulled the wizard to him and bit down on his neck. He could practically feel the mana he consumed as it flowed through his veins, saturating every cell in his body with power as it became fel energy. A wave of pain brought him to his knees, causing him to involuntarily curl up as his muscles seized. He barely retained his grip on his sword, needing it incase his brothers fell upon him in his moment of weakness. His skin began to crack, splitting apart as green fel energy poured out and covering him in a cocoon of sickly green magic. It withdrew back into him a moment later leaving a hulking individual over three times the size of the felguards around it. It's build was massive, covered in dark green and black plate armor with an equally demonic battle axe that matched the new demon in height.

The new fel lord cackled in glee at his upgraded status, taking a moment to examine his appearance and equipment. He looked up to find his former brothers kneeling before him in a semicircle, their fists set in the ground and heads lowered. "What would you have us do?" one of them inquired, the rest tensing silently as they awaited their new orders.

Merel'dres turned away towards the portal in the distance, grinning evilly as watched a red bolt of lightning flash over the green energy field. "Let's get some distance and see what comes out of the portal that had those mages so spooked." Planting his axe in the sand, he chuckled to himself as he felt his new muscles flex under his armor. "I have a feeling that we have something big coming our way boys!" The other demons cheered as they stood up, forming ranks again as they awaited their new prize.

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Their patience was rewarded less than an hour later as they kept their watch. Red arcs of lighting had begun to arc across the gate at more and more frequent intervals, chaining together near the center of the portal until the gate appeared to almost be dyed red, the normal fel green nowhere in sight. The portal rippled, heralding the approach of the traveler. Silence stretched across the land as if every creature collectively held their breath for what was to come next.

A massive green body flew out of the portal, it's size putting the new fel lord to shame. Merel'dres immediately recognized it as an annihilan of the legion, pit lords to the lesser beings. But the god-like walking tanks that he had always known looked nothing like the pathetic creature that lay on the ground in front of him. The being pushed itself up onto its four legs, leaning to it's left as its front left one was clearly broken. It held it's torso upright, using it's upper arms to hold up it's war glaves as it roared in defiance at the Dark Gate. Cut's littered it's body, green blood flowing off of it like rain into the soil as it poisoned the land with it's very presence. The demon didn't have to wait long for it's opponent as a long red tail flew from the portal and speared it in the shoulder. It was followed by eight more, each wrapping around part of the pit lord and immobilizing it in place. A giant red fox appeared from the portal, it's malicious eyes locked on it's prey in contempt as it casually lifted the pit lord up before throwing it off into the distance. The fox was clearly demonic, it's power screaming alpha to all around it, yet contained none of the taint associated with the fel magic of the twisted nether.

Merel'dres observed all of this as the pit lord sailed over his head before crashing down in a tangled heap in the valley directly behind him. The gigantic green demon groaned pathetically as it desperately tried to leverage itself back up into a guard position, only to fall onto it's face again in pain. It was at that moment that the fel lord realized that he was now directly in the path between the two titans. A low humming sound prompted him to slowly turn back towards the fox in dread. The red beast shook itself before light and dark balls of energy poured from it into the surrounding air. 'That's pure life energy!' the demon thought to himself in shock, his body paralyzed from the sight. The beast's tails curled around towards its head in an arch, a pull in the air drawing all of the life energy into a single orb in front of the monster. The ball shrank into itself before the fox snapped it up in it's jaws, clearly swallowing it whole to Merel'dres growing confusion.

The pit lord knew damn well what would happen next, having witnessed the attack already. All thoughts of continuing the battle flew from the greater demon's mind as its fight or flight instincts kicked in. Its arms dug into the hills, furiously trying to pull itself along the ground away from the fox. It stilled as a muffled explosion sounded behind it, knowing it was too late. Merel'dres watched in awe as the foxes body expanded like a balloon from the energy inside of it. It's head slowly panned towards the crawling titan before it opened it's jaws, releasing all of the pent up energy in a red beam of destruction. "Well shit…" was all the fel lord could say before he was swallowed up in the beam's path along with his brothers, sent back to the twisting nether to form again. The pit lord gave a final roar before the beam caught him full in the chest, picking the demon up and hurling him towards one of the mountains that bordered the valley. The beam exploded upon impact with the mountain, swallowing it whole in the blast as the fireball rose into the sky. Gale force winds ripped across the plains as a second shadow grew from each object for as long as it took for the fireball to dissipate into smoke. A gigantic pit was left behind where the mountain used to be, the ocean now visible from the interior of the Blasted Lands. The water roared forward to fill the new gap, creating an inland sea that would stretch to almost the base of the Dark Portal itself.

The Kyuubi roared as it tilted it's head up to the sky, it's challenge carried in the wind to any corner of the planet not already aware of it's threat. A stream of fire shot from its mouth, igniting the plains around it in a circle of death.

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Naruto stood in a dark tunnel, the tepid water sloshing around his ankles as he slowly stumbled forwards in a trance towards the back of the cave he found himself in. The gates were a golden yellow, stretching from the watery floor of the cave to where the top was swallowed up in darkness. A single seal tag hung from the center of them, the only thing holding back the full force of the Kyuubi from descending on the young man. **"Yes, you're doing fine"** the Kyuubi encouraged the poor boy as he neared the gate. " **Just a little bit more and I can make all your pain go away."** The nine tails had no joy in lying to the boy but it took the opportunity for freedom where it presented itself. Being in captivity for close to a hundred years, shoved inside various jinchuuriki and trapped in seals did wonders for removing any empathy one might have to other beings. **"Now remove the tag.."** he instructed, watching with glee as the paper began to tear. His freedom was imminent! Now if only he could do something about regaining his chakra. The trip through the twisting nether had sapped all nine tails worth of his power simply defending himself and his container from the demons that populated the darkness. He refused to be consumed, choosing to fight with every fiber of his being until he finally reached the portal and the pit lord guarding it.

A roar of outrage shook the cavern as a third conscious came into play, one who the nine-tails had never expected to see again. Naruto's hand was grabbed by another slightly larger one, ceasing the tag's destruction. He shook his head, his conscious slowly coming back to reality as he broke away from the Kyuubi's influence and began to take stock of his surroundings. He found himself staring at a larger version of himself, the only real difference being thinner set of cheeks without whisker marks. "Who are you?" he whispered.

His question was answered with a warm smile and the stranger's hand placed on the top of his head. "I'm the fourth hokage Minato Namikaze." He laughed lightly at his son's dumbfounded expression before choosing to drop the proverbial bomb. "I'm not here as your hokage though, but as your father." Naruto lowered his head for a minute in silence, his fists balling up and beginning to shake. Concerned at his son's inaction, Minato leaned in towards him only to receive a sucker punch to the gut that left the hokage doubled over and wheezing.

The nine tails was unable to keep in a huff of laughter at the sight of one of his greatest nemeses brought low by a single blow from a child. Naruto sent him an appreciative smile before frowning back at Minato again, his brain finally catching up with his mouth and unloading his pent up frustrations about how hard it was growing up as the village pariah. He was interrupted by Minato just as he began describing his lack of training, the blonde holding up a hand to stop his son's rambling. "I'm sorry Naruto but I only have a limited amount of time here before my chakra runs out. Let me fix your seal while we talk…" He was interrupted by another roar from the Kyuubi, causing him to stick his pinky in his ear to clean it out. "He sure is a rude one isn't he? Let's take this somewhere more private" he offered, reaching his hand towards Naruto's head again.

" **Rude!?"** the Nine tailed fox's voice echoed mockingly through the cavern as it glowered down at the humans in it's sanctum. **"You've taken away my freedom time and time again! You stole half of my power from me and use me as a living battery for the rest of it! I haven't even been able to hold on to the other half thanks to your son! Hurry up and leave my sight hypocrites!"** he huffed, turning to walk farther into the darkness of the cage to get a measure of privacy. Naruto frowned at the lack of tails behind the fox before his vision shifted to a rocky outcrop bordering a body of water that stretched farther than the eye could see.

"This has been my spot for the last sixteen years" Minato said as he took a seat on a rock and stared out into the distance. "The water would show me what you saw, allowing me to experience your life alongside you."

"So you know already?" Naruto asked, realizing the implications. "About Konoha's destruction? And about what happened to Pervy Sage?" He blinked back the tears that were forming in the corners of his eyes, unwilling to cry in front of his hero. "I tried so hard to stay on the path to peace that pervy sage talked about… but it's impossible…" His eyes had given up the fight. A lone tear flowed down his cheek, soon followed by others as his anguish and frustration raged up from where he had continually suppressed it over the years. "I don't know what to do anymore dad" he admitted quietly only to feel himself pulled into a comforting embrace by his father. He wrapped his arms around his dad's back in return, closing his eyes and resting his head against Minato's chest. All the problems in the world taking a back seat for the moment as he shut everything else out.

Minato rested his chin on Naruto's head, feeling his son shudder as he tried to get his emotions back under control. "I was a firm believer in peace too. Even Pain was in a way, though his method for achieving the goal became twisted over time." He sighed before pulling Naruto back to arms length and looking him in the eyes. "As the Hokage, I would tell you to keep faith and not give up on achieving true peace. Setbacks happen but can be overcome with perseverance and effort." He smiled at his son, his eyes showing nothing but pride at the man he had become. "As your father though I'd say you've already done more than enough." Naruto looked up in shock. His mouth hung open in surprise, never expecting something like that to come from the man who sacrificed his own son for the greater good of the village. Minato read his expression like an open book, saddened that his own son didn't even expect to come first in his eyes. "I've had nothing but time to reflect while watching you grow from here. I've come to realize that the quest for peace handed down by the toads is unachievable at this time for our world. Jiraiya, Nagato, myself, and now you all sacrificed greatly to achieve this yet we aren't any closer to making it happen. It's become almost a curse that took everything from those who chose to follow it."

Taking a seat on the rock, he indicated for Naruto to join him. "All your mother and I ever wanted for you was to be happy. I had assumed that finding true peace for everyone would ensure that your happiness as well. But people won't change until they're ready to, and you shouldn't sacrifice your life trying to speed up the process. I don't know where you are now after Kakashi used his jitsu on you, but this can be a chance for a new life for you." He held up his hand, his smile turning melancholy as his fingers began to grow transparent. "My chakra is almost used up."

"No!" Naruto shouted, jumping to his feet and grabbing his father's solid hand. "I just met you! There has to be some way for you to stay with me." He bit his lip as he wracked his brain for any kind of idea to save his father.

"Don't worry Naruto" his father said as he pulled his son into a final hug before pulling his hand free. "Your mother and I will always watch over you. Just find your own happiness in life. Now come over here and let me fix your seal. Just remember, there won't be any more repairs. The rest is on you."

"Actually dad" Naruto hedged, looking like a small kid about to ask a huge favor of his parents. "Can you make a change to my seal? I need it to perform a little differently." Minato raised an eyebrow in surprise at the request but nodded for him to continue.

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"Bek ubla?" The blonde slowly came back into consciousness. "Yna kosh nomoa?"

He groaned as something large pushed against his chest, forcing him to roll on his side. "Leave me alone!" he grumbled in pain, his body reminding him that he had just finished a fight with a 'god' before doing god knows what while he wasn't in charge of it.

"Jek nomoa!" a deep voice exclaimed from above him. A heavy foot fall caused the ground under him to tremble letting him know that whatever was near him was pretty damn big in size.

Suddenly his ankle was grabbed, hauling him into the air to hang upside down. Naruto's eyes flew open as his mind worked furiously to take stock of his situation, powering through the pain signals and forcing his brain to lucidity. He was at least nine feet off of the ground, held up by a large blue humanoid. The creature grunted, lifting the blonde up to stare at him eye to two eyes. It had a single large horn jutting from it's head above beady black eye and a small nose with flared nostrils. Its sharp teeth and large tusks jutting from it's lower jaw didn't seem like a herbivore to the young ninja. "Hello!" he tried, attempting to be friendly just in case it was an option.

He heard heavy breathing from two directions behind him, signalling that he was either surrounded, or close to it. "Pemga jek nomoa?" he heard from over his left shoulder, the voice distinctively deeper than the one from before. "Thach buc hul!" His captor glanced at him before shrugging and lifting a large wooden club into the air with his free hand. The intention to do harm clear on its face as it glared at the captive ninja.

Naruto panicked, reaching up to his leg holster and opening the flap. His equipment rained down to the ground below as the blonde cursed his luck. Reacting quickly, he managed to snag a falling kunai with his left hand while the right grabbed a fluttering piece of paper. 'A flash bomb!' he cheered internally before igniting it with his chakra and dropping it to the ground. He screwed his eyes shut and covered his ears with his fists, opening them a moment later after he felt the blast wave. The creatures bellowed in pain, furiously rubbing at their eyes as they stumbled around in a daze. Wasting no time, the ninja stabbed his captors hand with his kunai. The blade sticking in the thick skin but doing enough damage to force his release as the creature loosened his grip in reaction to the pain. Scrambling to his feet on the ground, Naruto's eyes fell on the first weapon he could find. Hefting the club with both hands, the ninja swung it with all his might at the nearest creature's kneecap. The beast fell on it's side, bellowing as it held it's injured appendage. A shot to it's head silenced it a moment later, sending it into blissful unconsciousness. The same tactic worked on the second enemy as well, leaving only one target left for the blonde.

This creature, his original captor, was smarter though. It had backpedaled from it's attacker as it furiously rubbed it's eye to alleviate the pain until it could see again. It now stood ten feet away, scowling heavily as it held it's injured hand while contemplating it's next move. It took a step forward toward its small enemy, only to stop as the small thing seemed to do the impossible and lift the large club to hold over the head of one of it's fallen brethren. "Jot!" it cried out as it held its hands into the air, uncaring of the blood spilling down it's hand from the wound. "Jek noama Burr!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he tried to understand the gibberish, only to give it up as a lost cause a moment later. Taking a chance, he placed the club slowly on the ground besides the two unconscious creatures before backing away. The one eyed creature regarded him for a second before grunting and giving a single nod. It plodded forward before throwing the body of one of it's unconscious brethren over its shoulder. Grabbing the other by the wrist he began walking toward a large broken down castle in the distance that sat on the edge of a large cliff.

Naruto kept a wary eye on the creature until it disappeared from sight into the castle before turning in a slow circle to take in his surroundings. He was somewhat reminded of the land of earth with how the land was laid out around him. The cliff containing the castle sat overlooking a large ocean that stretched farther than the eye could see. Everywhere else was grassy plains and rolling hills dotted by lone trees and rock formations. His nostalgia was brought to an abrupt end however as he watched a pack of giant lizards just over his height as they roamed across the grass in the distance. "Where the hell am I" he mumbled as he sat down on a rock. The only sound that could be heard was the waves crashing against the cliffs in the distance.

 **Author's Note: Writer's block sucks. Sometimes trying something new helps, so here goes.**


	2. Chapter 2

Looking for Home

Chapter 2: Hate Takes too Much Effort

Thach stood on the rampart of castle, staring off into the distance as thought over all the strange happenings of the day. The Boulderfist ogre clan had moved into the castle grounds over a year ago after the disaster at their old home of Boulderfist Hall. The clan shaman had attempted to use an earthen spell to expand their warrens to allow more room for the growing families, only to have an outside source disrupt the spell midcast. Over half of the tunnels in the lower caves had collapsed, effectively making a good chunk of the clan homeless. The only other hill stable enough to dig into was already occupied by those thrice cursed drakes forcing his people to look to the next best option available. The lower portion of the ruined castle was easy to take over from the human scum. Only one warrior was lost as they drove the pathetic group off into the plains. There was a different human clan holding the city in the higher grounds though. Their cowardly ambushes and use of fire magic stopped his clan from advancing any further. An uneasy truce had been declared between the two groups, humans above and ogres below. His people would have walls to protect them from predators, but nothing over their heads to stop the weather from taking its toll.

The ogres had began to patrol aggressively afterwards, determined to keep any and all threats away from their young as they tried to find a long term solution to their problem. Thach had led his own patrol along the cliffside with his cousins Burr and Richt, determined to help contribute even if the elders told him he was still too young. His confidence had risen over the next couple of months as they drove away packs of plains raptors and even the odd stone elemental that had wandered too close. Then, they had found the runt. Thach had initially mistook him for just another dead body, most likely dumped there by one of the human clans. His curiosity had grown as it proved to still live after he had poked it with his club. Burr had been hungry though and refused to stop complaining. He just wanted the human dead so they could continue on and return to the cooking pits for a hard earned meal. Thach had eventually given in, preparing to put the injured human out it's misery when all hell had broken loose.

The runt must have only been playing dead because the next thing Thach knew, he was blinded by a flash and his hand had been stabbed by something small and sharp. His instincts drove him to quickly backpedal from the danger while he tried to recover his eyesight even as he heard his cousins struggle with the human that barely came up to their knees. Blinking the tears out of his eyes, his vision returned only to show his cousins laying in a pile and the runt holding his own club that he had carved himself. Thach had been prepared to lose his cousins that day, his own overconfidence the cause of their downfall. To his surprise though, the runt had heeded his pleas. Placing the club down, the human slowly backed away and left his relatives alive. Thach moved forward immediately, determined to escape before the runt changed his mind.

'Why would he let us go?' the ogre thought to himself as he stared off into the darkness, the moonlight allowing his eye to barely make out the rocky landscape of the coastline. No one would believe his story when he returned home, telling him that he must have been mistaken. No human would ever let an ogre live after all the bad blood that had passed between the two species during the legion invasions in the past. Thach's eyes followed the cliff face towards where they met the hills that bordered the plains. Perched on the ledge was a small figure, it's features too tough to make out in the darkness. But Thach knew it was the runt. He hadn't moved from the spot since their fight earlier, just sitting and staring out over the water. The ogre didn't see the human as an immediate threat any more, but it's strange actions were even more worrying. In a harsh world such as Azeroth, new usually meant bad and sometimes deadly. The young ogre would keep up his vigil on the unknown human for the rest of the night, determined to protect his people.

XXXXXX

'There it is again!' Naruto stared out at the ocean, keying in on the area reflecting the moon. He had seen movement a few minutes ago and was determined to find out exactly what it was. A crest broke the surface of the water as he watched, soon followed by the rest of a vaguely draconic face. The face scanned around the shore line before movement on the cliff grabbed it's attention. It saw a young man in tattered orange and black clothes observing him right back, causing his hackles to rise. His hiss of outrage at one of his people's long time enemies brought the rest of his patrol to the surface to see what he was alerting to. Naruto observed in fascination as three more heads broke the surface next to the new being, two looking similar to him while one had almost humanoid facial features covered in small blue scales. The lead one raised a large trident in the air at him while shouting something. The call was lost in the noise of the waves crashing on the cliffs though, causing the blonde to simply wave back in a friendly way. The others sank back below the waves, leaving the first dragon guy behind who regarded the young man strangely before sinking down into the water as well.

The ninja sighed to himself as he turned and walked back to his rock, lowering himself into a seated position as he crossed his legs and closed his eyes. It was time to have a long overdue conversation that he had been putting off for far too long. He felt the sensation of falling before gently touching down onto the ground, prompting him to open his eyes. He was back in the cave again, though this time it was well lit. The entire room was revealed, from the corner he now stood in to the half of the room behind the golden bars that now housed a large angry fox. " **Why are you here brat?** " growled the fox as he found his sanctum once again violated by his jailor. " **Haven't you taken enough from me?** " He curled up into a ball, his head resting over his front paws behind the gate so he could observe the nuisance in front of him. The ningen's expression looked a little less stupid then the last few times he had been around, making the kyuubi curious enough to give him a chance to speak before throwing him out.

Naruto stared up at the giant fox, his hands clenching as he worked to suppress his rage at what the fox had done to him through his life. All the hatred from the village, the Akatsuki trying to kill him to reach the bijuu within, and all the times the fox had attempted to take control. The blonde's hands trembled as his face screwed up, preparing to unleash something especially horrific if the kyuubi was to guess. It was to the fox's astonishment when the blonde's hands opened and pressed into his side before the blonde dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the floor before him. "I'm sorry Kyuubi" the ninja said, his face still to the floor. "My father explained to me some of the details about the night that they were killed and you were sealed into me. It was not your choice in the matter and it isn't fair that I've held you responsible for so long."

" **What is the point of this?"** the fox growled, unwilling to be drawn into the conversation. He had hoped for better treatment from his last two hosts before, only to be disappointed and left alone for decades at a time. " **I could care less about your apology and I'll still take every chance I have to escape from here! Unless** " he murmured calculatingly as he regarded the ninja in front of him, " **you plan to release me by pulling off the seal.** "

Naruto slowly pushed himself back to his feet, shaking his head in sorrow. "Believe it or not, I actually asked my father to do it before he faded away." The kyuubi snorted in disappointment, the wind from it ruffling the blonde's hair and making it fly out like a hedgehog before he smoothed it back down again. The chakra beast could detect no dishonesty from his host though, helping him stay calm through the distressing news. The blonde raised his head high, unafraid as he continued on after being interrupted. "We were never told about the full effect of the seal before and no one alive, even the third hokage and erosenin were unable to figure it out. You said it yourself earlier" he pointed at the fox, causing the bijuu's ears to perk up. "Your chakra was split in half upon the sealing. Half went to me and the other half went to my dad before he was swallowed by the shinigami. Now think about it for a second. If I die, then your chakra is dispersed and you reappear again sometime down the road right?" The fox nodded, his mind starting to connect the dots and not liking the picture that was being drawn. "But what if half of your chakra still remained?" the ninja questioned, now fully in lecture mode. "The part in me would naturally go back to the half it was seperated from to become whole again. And where exactly would that be?"

" **In the stomach of the shinigami…** " said the fox, finishing the statement. Of all the bullshit that could happen, this took the proverbial cake. Imprisoned in isolation for countless years, only to spend the rest of eternity in the stomach of the shinigami. Why did kami hate him so much that he deserved this kind of fate. " **If you're trying to convince me to play nice ningen, you're doing a very shit job of it. Knowing my fate is already sealed would make me want to end this miserable imprisonment that much quicker.** "

"I know, I know" Naruto said, waving his arm in a calm down motion. "It sucks but I don't want to die anymore than you do. I want to reach some form of agreement between us and that can't start without there being honesty. Dad couldn't adjust the portion of the seal placed by the shinigami. That was way beyond his skill level. What he could do was adjust the portion that he put on that connected you and I and let me draw your chakra."

" **What did you do!?** " the nine tails voice came so loud that it echoed off the walls. " **That was not yours to adjust. It affects both of us. You think I would possibly trust you after doing something like that?** "

Naruto stuck a pinky in his ear, doing what he could to try t regain his hearing after the deafening shout. "This would go a lot quicker if you actually let me explain fox…" He was blown back on his butt by a snort from said fox. "Smart ass…" he mumbled as he pushed himself back up. He pulled his shirt over his head, leaving his torso bare with the seal visible. The nine tails eyes narrowed as it examined the various changes done to it's prison. "I had the seal changed so chakra won't flow unless we are both in agreement" the blonde explained as he traced the backwards spiral that now circled the outside of the design. "We're in this together but I refuse to take what isn't freely given anymore. You can choose your own fate from here on out, the same as me. It also means that I can send chakra back your way to help you regenerate faster."

" **What makes you think I would accept your filthy chakra** " the fox said reflexively, trying to recover from such a surprise. " **And why would you possibly offer up something like that to me anyways? No jinchuuriki has ever done something like that.** " What was it with this runt acting completely different from every other pathetic ningen that the fox had ever encountered before?

Naruto simply shrugged as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've taken more than I deserved from you in the past. It's obvious that you're weakened from keeping us alive on the trip to where ever we are now." He ignored the fox's roar at the implied weakness. "No one is forcing you to take it, but it's there if you decide you need it. Uzumaki's chakra pools and regenerations are some of the best in all the elemental nations afterall" he said with pride. "I also had the communication part adjusted so you can see and hear what I do when you choose to. I thought I knew how bad it was being isolated after ten years of it, but that's only a drop in the bucket compared to what you've experienced. My friends pulled me out of a dark place that I was trapped in my early life. I'd like to be that friend for you as well if you'll let me."

" **Time will tell on that boy** " the fox replied, not enjoying that the runt was able to see through his defenses so easily. " **Time reveals everything eventually. It is a good first step forward though. But!** " he quickly said, enjoying that he wiped the cheesy smile from the boy's face. " **In the spirit of full disclosure, I must ask… what is the purpose of the second seal between your shoulder blades?** "

"What seal!" The fox flared his chakra, expelling the blonde from his cave before he could finish responding. The kyuubi relished the final look of confusion on the ninja's face. It was important to take small joys when they presented themselves after all. Settling back into a comfortable position, he closed his eyes and began to draw on the boy's senses. The world outside was beautiful…

XXXXXX

The ninja came back to the waking world with a start, falling backwards off of the rock and landing on his neck in the soft grass. He stared up at the constellations in amazement, realizing that he couldn't recognize a single one from what Jiraiya had taught him during their training trip. Even the moon looked different, this one being much closer to the planet and lighting up the area to a good visibility. He pulsed his chakra, enjoying the feeling of his coils being full again. He took a moment to mold some of it in a familiar shape, watching as a clone popped into existence in front of him on top of the rock. "Time to get up boss" the clone said as it offered the original a hand, pulling the blonde to his feet. "There's a lot to do before we figure out exactly what to accomplish next."

"I know" Naruto agreed before turning and pulling off his shirt, exposing his back to the clone. He shivered as a breeze flew past him on its way in from the ocean to the plains. "Now take a look at what fuzzbutt said was on my back" he ordered while flaring his chakra. He ignored the pulse of demonic chakra from his seal, aware that the fox was expressing its discontent at the nickname.

The clone whistled to itself as it watched the seal flare to life, the ink starting in a basic storage seal in the middle of the back before stretching up to the shoulder blades and down to the lower back. "This isn't a normal storage seal boss, it's huge. When the hell did pervy sage get a chance to put this on you without us knowing?"

"If you don't know, then how the hell should I? We have the same memories" the original exclaimed, frustration beginning to creep into his voice at being unable to see the seal.

The clone shrugged, placing his hand on the middle of the seal and pulsing it's chakra. A scroll popped out, wrapped in an orange ribbon with a toad drawn on the paper. He handed it to the original before disrupting himself, sending his memories back to the original including the layout of the seal itself. Naruto blinked a few times as he processed the memories before smiling softly to himself, recognizing the sealing style as Jiraiya's. Carefully pulling the ribbon off of the scroll to save it for later, he pivoted on the rock so the moon light would provide him enough illumination to read the scroll.

 _Hey Kid,_

 _Never fear, it is I the Gallant Toad Sage Jiraiya. Let me tell you Naruto, you reallllllly need to be more careful about your food and drink. All it took was me putting a little knock out powder in your instant ramen and you were out a few minutes later. I have to go track down an old student of mine, but we'll work on your situational awareness when I get back._

Naruto withheld a sob, realizing that Jiraiya must have written this the night before he was killed by Pain when he infiltrated Rain Country. He had never gotten over the fact of how abruptly the toad sage disappeared. Pulling himself together, he dried his eyes and continued to read, determined to finish the letter in one go.

 _I just wanted to put down in writing how proud I am of you. I've been blessed by Kami to have the privilege of training two of the most talented shinobi to ever come out of Konoha. I know you probably don't feel like I prepared you enough during our time together, but I promise there was a purpose behind it. Instead of teaching you jutsu, I concentrated on your chakra control to the point of being able to make a rasengan with either hand and your kage bunshins with just a thought. Now let me tell you a secret kid, one that all the great shinobi know and no one else ever seems to figure out. S rank shinobi all have original techniques that make them so powerful. People can't counter something they've never seen before. Just learning existing jutsu would have set you up on a path to mediocrity and eventual failure. With your huge reserves, mastery of shape manipulation and control, and kage bunshins to help speed up training, you should easily become a jutsu factory that the world has never seen._

 _You're going to do great things kid. I know it. Now I'm sure you're wondering just what the point is of having such a huge seal on your back. Well, surprise! I'm not the only one to have something put in there. Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka and a few others all contributed a gift since your birthday is coming up soon. You can figure out where I hid their stuff. The rest of it is a giant storage seal that I haven't really found a limit for yet._

 _Now back to business. I put instructions and exercises for mastering the other chakra elements at the bottom of the scroll. I strongly suggest you start there if you want to have a hope of making anything more powerful than a D rank jutsu. I'll be back no later than a week from now so you can show me the progress you've made. If you haven't found the seal yet, then I'm probably standing over your shoulder while you read this. Welcome to hell kid._

 _P.S. Try to get laid. It would really help with your stress relief. Bottling it all up internally will make you grow old quicker._

'He would have never let me hear the end of it' Naruto thought with a sigh before reaching over his shoulder to the correct portion of the seal. The scroll disappeared with a quick flare of chakra, safe in seal space again until next time. A moment later he was joined by five clones, the group huddling around the rock their leader sat on. "We need to scout before we go any farther" the original instructed to his minions. "Two of you follow the road, one to the west and the other goes east. Don't stray too far and try to stay out of the way so you don't get popped." He pointed to the middle clone. "You go over the cliff and see if there's a beach anywhere on the coast line. I want to try to find those guys again that were in the water. You other two pick a direction and go. Let's get the lay of the land and see if we can find a good spot for our new home. Be careful if you meet anyone but try not to be hostile. I already got in one fight and I don't need more enemies." The clones saluted before dashing off into the twilight, intent on making use of what remained of the darkness.

The blonde ninja watched the sun begin to peak up over the horizon, mesmerized by the breathtaking view. The bright red and vivid yellow mixing into a powerful orange as the sun light began to shine over the horizon. The warmth from it was welcomed by the ninja, his shredded outfit not doing near enough to hold back the night's chill. 'Looks like I'm going to need a base of operations' the blonde thought to himself as he stood up and walked to the base of the first hill. He pushed his way into a thicket of waist high bushes, stopping as he found a small hole burrowed straight back into the hillside. It was as wide as his shoulders, allowing him just enough room to wiggle backwards into for the purpose of sleeping. The ninja wormed his way into the hole, pulling a cut chunk of bush in after him to disguise the opening. A soft snore echoed from the hole in no time at all as the exhaustion from the last twenty four hours finally took its toll on the jinchuriki.

The Uzumaki slept, dreaming of the last battle and friends he would never see again thanks to Pain's attack. The accusatory looks given to him by the people of Konoha tore down to his very soul. 'If only you had been quicker…' they said, 'if only you weren't a Konoha ninja, we wouldn't have been targeted.' The blonde shinobi had stuck with the toad style taijutsu and rasengan variations when fighting the six paths of Pain because they were his bread and butter moves and he wanted to prove a point. His pride was no longer a factor now after such a humiliating defeat. The fact that no matter how high up the food chain you were, there was always someone above you had been drilled into him mercilessly. He tried battling the leader of Akatsuki again and again, each time trying new tactics and jitsu that he had learned from Jiraiya and the toads. Nothing worked though, every scenario resulting in him pinned in the dirt watching Hinata murdered before his very eyes by the rinnegan eyed murderer.

Naruto awoke with a start, covered in a cold sweat and thrashing as he tried to comprehend why his movement was so restricted. He frantically wormed his way towards the faint source of light, his lungs straining to expand enough for the required oxygen. Gasping in a huge breath as he lurched out of the hole, the blonde ninja rolled onto his back. The young man stared up at the moon as it hovered overhead, it's light shining down between the branches of the bushes around him. 'This can't be a long term solution' he thought to himself as he rose to his feet. Walking back to his rock, he took a seat and closed his eyes.

The clones' had completed their missions while he was asleep, their memories a jumble that needed to be sorted out. The first clone that had went down the cliff had found a small cove with an old ship beached on it and a small, weather beaten shack off of the beach. No one had lived there for a while as far as he could tell, meaning the supplies were up for grabs. The clone had proceeded to walk out onto the ocean for a few hundred feet before he was ambushed by another group of the sea lizards. He had managed to avoid the arrows and lances thrown at him before a hand had broke the surface directly under him and latched onto his ankle. The clone had moments to take in a large underwater reef dotted with homes made from coral before his vision was filled with the large lizard that the original Naruto had waved too from the cliff. The creature's eyes widened in recognition before it's grip had tightened to the point that the clone had popped. 'I'll just leave that as a 'maybe'' the blonde thought to himself before moving on to the rest.

The clone traveling west on the road had made it through the random packs of animals until it came upon a crumbling wall that stretched from the nearby mountain to the cliffs bordering the other side of the valley in the far distance. He easily walked up the side of it, using the view from the top to scout the local area that the hills hid from view on the ground. The other side of the wall was a large forest with a crumbling fort in the distance. On his side of the wall, he discovered multiple farms that looked run down but still had people occupying them. Jumping down to the ground, the clone took off towards the nearest one. He crested the final hill, grinning at the sight of a dozen people that milled around the area. The strangers paused as the blonde came into view, gathering in a small group at the entrance to the farmhouse. "I'm so glad I finally found real people!" the clone exclaimed as he practically skipped towards the men. "The only others I've seen so far all wanted to either kill or ignore me. I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" he chirped, stopping in front of one of the men and holding out his hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you." The man glanced down at the appendage warily before turning his head towards the largest man and asking a question that sounded like gibberish to the blonde. The answer came back short and harsh, with the rest of the group quickly fanning out to surround the clone and cut off his escape. The leader pulled a long sword from its scabbard on his back, leveling it at the ninja's head as he barked out a command. The Naruto clone couldn't understand the language, but the tone and body language of the men revealed that they had no intentions of a peaceful meeting. Compounding it was the fact that they were dressed head to toe in black rags and masks, only their eyes uncovered. The clone fell back into a combat stance, pulling out a kunai as it slowly leaked out it's chakra into the air. Jiraiya had taught Naruto the basics of the move during the training trip, the objective being to saturate the surrounding area with chakra allowing the user to sense any intruders in their immediate area. The normal range of the jitsu was five feet in all directions, allowing the user to improve their chances in a taijutsu battle. To no one's surprise, Naruto's dense chakra allowed a thirty foot bubble to form around the blonde making it virtually impossible to sneak up on him unless the attacker's speed was too great to counter. The clone could feel it's reserves start to sink at a rapid pace with the chakra bubble in effect. It decided to make the first move, rushing at the surprised leader. It ducked under the first swing, and jumped to the left to avoid the return. It caught the leader on the chin with an uppercut, lifting the larger man off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground in a heap. The rest of the men stared at their stunned boss in disbelief allowing the clone to take out two more of them as it surged forward again. The five remaining bandits attacked as one, two of them bracketing the clone in with their spears before the other three swarmed him with short swords. The clone managed to evade for a few seconds before a lucky strike caught it in the arm, dispelling it in the process and frightening the bandits at it's sudden disappearance. 'I guess there's assholes here too' Naruto thought to himself as he filed the highwaymen under his 'attack first' category for future reference.

The clones that had gone off into the hills directly had mixed results at best. One had been immediately burst as it stumbled upon a nest of the raptors that seemed to inhabit the plains. The dinosaurs had surrounded the clone, attacking from all angles in rapid fashion until one of them had gotten lucky and raked a talon across his back hard enough to kill him. The other Naruto clone had watched the attack from the distance, shivering at the carnage and saying a silent prayer for his brother clone. He looped around another hill before finding a footpath worn into grass that led off into the distance. Choosing to follow the man made path, the blonde walked in silence for a few minutes before a strong voice called out in the distance. "Olk!" a large man shouted as he ran towards the blonde, stopping a few feet away and brandishing a spear threateningly. "Jebt Nab!" The blonde could only shrug in confusion before slowly raising his hands into the air in the universal non-violence gesture as the man angrily motioned with his spear again. This seemed to placate the man as he called out into the night before two others ran up out of the darkness to join the growing confrontation.

The two new soldiers took up station behind the blonde, just out of arm's reach. 'At least they aren't fools' the clone thought to himself as the original human gestured with a scowl for him to follow before turning to start down the trail that lead into a small canyon. The path lead deeper down between the rock walls, the moonlight becoming scarce as the path was now lit by torches that had been driven into the wall at random locations. Background noise of civilization soon began to drift up to the blondes ears, the hammering of a hammer on an anvil mixed in with the murmurs of people haggling over the price of goods. The blonde halted as he caught sight of the first unarmored humans before him, their appearance just different enough from the humans back in the elemental countries to remind him he was nowhere near home again. The men all appeared stouter, the tallest one being a few inches shorter than the blonde ninja but far wider in the shoulders and covered in muscle mass. Even the women seemed to possess a thicker muscular while still keeping the feminine proportions. One such female was dressed in a suit of plate armor, sans helmet as she watched a formation of soldiers march by. She frowned as she watched a trio of her men escort the slenderest teenager she had ever seen into the camp. Waving to the sergeant in charge of the formation, she signalled for him to bring over the prisoner. Her man barked an order only for the stranger to react with confusion as if he didn't speak human. The guard behind him grew frustrated, giving a hard shove with his spear and pushing the blonde man down onto the ground. Her jaw dropped as as the teenager disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, her hand flying to her sword in alarm. The camp's soldiers went into panic mode as it was made known that an unknown rouge was lurking somewhere in their base. Sweep teams deployed to check every nook and cranny but would come up empty in their searching.

Naruto could only shake his head as he processed the memories, making a mental note to investigate the possible human encampment later. The language barrier was going to be a major problem for him unless he could figure out something soon. The last clone's memories weren't any better than the others. It had followed the road all the way past the castle to a ruined bridge crossing over a huge canyon that the ocean ran into. It chose to go north, skirting around a hillside dotted with caves. More of the huge creatures that he had initially fought the day he arrived moved all over the hillside, larger ones patrolling in groups while others performed household activities. He hid a smile as he saw a strange two headed version of the creature trudge by while dressed in crude furs and carrying a staff. It looked as if the weight of the world was on its shoulders, giving a huge sigh as over a dozen different child sized creatures ran around it in circles as they laughed.

'They aren't so different after all' the blonde thought with small grin as he moved past the hill, following the base of mountain range that ringed the plains as it stretched to the north. The grin was wiped away a moment later as he moved towards a campfire, the black smoke rolling into the sky attracting his attention from a way off. He crawled up the hillside, peeking over the top with his ragged blue shirt pulled up over his head to hide his blonde hair. A trio of blue creatures sat at the fire eating chunks of meat from a larger piece staked over the fire to cook. They were at least as tall as he was though gangly with blue skin, long tusks curving from their mouths, longer ears and parts of their faces pierced with bones. They laughed over a private joke before one stood up and moved over to spot hidden behind a group of bushes. A roar sounded so loud that it vibrated his chest. Naruto could hear the pain and anguish in it, making him grit his teeth as he struggled to stay hidden. The blue creature walked back to the fire with another chunk of meat, staking it over the flames as he took his seat again.

Backing away slowly until he was out of sight, Naruto took off at a sprint. Silently running around the hill, he approached the bushes from the opposite side the troll had. He crouched low as he pushed through them, gasping at the sight he had come upon. Three of the huge blue humanoids lay in a row, arms and legs bound to restrict movement with crude gags placed in their mouths. The adult female lay with her body curved to shield a child, panic in her eyes as she caught sight of the blonde. The adult male's eyes stared ahead, unable to focus due to blood loss. It's right leg was missing from below the knee, clearly hacked off by a blunt tool and left to bleed out. The blonde quickly moved forward, picking up a spare rope and tying it tightly below the humanoid's knee to stop the blood loss. He pulled out a kunai, making slow movements to not upset the female as he moved to cut her leg bindings. She stayed still as he moved to the ropes on her arms, waiting for the last one to snap before surging to her feet and pulling the rag out of her mouth. He quickly placed the kunai on the ground while making shushing motions, praying she would get the message and not bring her captors down on him. The blue female towered over him by at least three feet, dwarfing him in every possible way. She watched him suspiciously before reaching down to pick up his kunai, the blade pinched between her index finger and thumb. She quickly cut the ropes of the others, nodding in approval as she examined the tourniquet that the blonde had applied. The female threw the injured male over her shoulder, her knees almost buckling from the weight. She tossed the blade back to the feet of the blonde, pausing for a second before pulling a necklace made of bone and colored stones from her neck and tossing it to the ninja as well. Nudging the youngling forward, she trudged off towards the hill where her brethren lived. A loud guaf of laughter refocused the blonde back towards the party by the fire, the mystery meat finally having an origin now. 'Fucking cannibals' the ninja thought to himself as he calmly walked towards the cooking fire. Stopping a few dozen feet away, he pulled an explosive tag from his weapons pouch and wrapped it around the handle of the kunai. He winged it at the center cannibal before turning and walking away. He heard a dull *thunk* followed by a roar of pain, only to be drowned out by an explosion a second later that brought a grim smile to the clone's face.

The real Naruto shook his head in disappointment as the memories ended. Eating another intelligent being was a line that no one had crossed back in the Elemental Nations, and considering some of the depraved things shinobi did to each other, that was saying a lot. He climbed to his feet, walking a few paces towards the cliff before kicking over a specific rock form his memories. The necklaces laid there, tucked into a safe place by the clone before it dispelled. The ninja pocketed it, before going in search of firewood. His clone had left him one final gift before it had popped, a dead raptor lay on the rock. It's head was removed and the body laid out just right for the blood to drain out into a small hole dug below it. Piling the wood back at his campsite, the shinobi used a small katon ninjutsu to start a fire. He set up a raptor leg on a spit over the flame as his stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in the last twenty four hours. The blonde sat back against his rock with his eyes shut, relaxing as he listened to the fire slowly burn it's way through the logs. He was unaware of the large shadow approaching slowly from the direction of the castle.

 **A/N: Somehow I just can't picture any first contact scenario in WoW going all that well for a shinobi that doesn't speak the language**


	3. Chapter 3

Looking for Home

Chapter 3: The Maelstrom and the Naga

 **A/N: Had Plums point out that I needed to put in a little more background info. This story starts at the beginning of WoW and will probably cross into the B.C. expansion at some point. I haven't played past Frozen Throne and don't want to try to research a decade of additional lore so expect possible drift as the story unfolds.**

Naruto's mouth watered as the dino meat began to roast over the fire. He had eaten lizard before while he was in the Land of Water on his training trip with Jiraiya. It had tasted like an oily version of chicken, not all that appetizing but still good enough to ask for seconds from the sage. Apparently the diet that the dinos had here was a lot healthier because the scent was absolutely heavenly. A loud grunt from the other side of the rock startled him out of his hunger induced haze. Naruto jumped to his feet, landing in a crouch with a kunai in hand as he scanned for the intruder. He looked up, and up, finding a familiar face staring back at him. The one eyed giant blue humanoid that he had fought on the first day was back, staring at him curiously as it stood a few feet away. It had three raptor carcasses thrown over its shoulder, held there by it's strong arm while the other gripped it's club. The humanoid stared at him warily before it's eyes trailed towards the fire, examining the meal Naruto was preparing.

'Might as well give it another try' the blonde ninja thought as he stepped backwards towards the fire, not turning his back from the intruder. Placing the firepit between them, he cut off a large chunk of meat with his kunai before pocketing the weapon and picking up the stick that still had the rest of the leg stabbed on it. He slowly walked forward, stopping a few feet from his uninvited guest and offering the rest of his meal up to it. The giant raised it's eyebrow, a surprised expression appearing on its face before it took the offered food. Naruto returned to the other side of the fire, taking a seat and beginning to eat as he kept an eye on his company. The giant stared at him for a minute longer before grunting softly, dropping it's cargo and joining him on the other side of the fire. It carefully sniffed the meat before taking a large bite, it's eye rolling back as it groaned in pleasure at the taste. Naruto grinned as he began to enjoy his own meal more. It always felt nice to have his cooking complemented, however indirectly.

The meal continued in a more comfortable atmosphere, both of them enjoying the silence as they worked on sating their appetites. Finishing his meal, the ninja relaxed leaning backwards on his hands. A soft clink to his left drew his attention, showing that the newly acquired necklace had slid out of his pocket to the ground. Picking it up, he absentmindedly began to play with it as he stared at the center stone looped through it. It was bigger than the rest, light purple in color with carvings covering most of its surface. His curiosity peaked as he tried to make out what the writing said, holding it up eye level to catch the sunlight better.

Unfortunately he wasn't the only one interested in the jewelry. His guest's eye was drawn to the glint too, the being surging to his feet as his eye widened. Obviously it recognized the jewelry as well. "Bost nuk ren?" it asked as it pointed at the necklace. Quickly growing annoyed at the blonde's uncomprehending look it took a threatening step forward as it's hand moved towards it's club. "BOST NUK REN KIRSENT?!" it repeated almost frantically, it's eye zeroed in on the necklace. Naruto slowly stood up, holding out the jewelry to the angry humanoid. It was immediately snatched away as the blue giant began to examine it thoroughly, his agitated state not decreasing at all.

' _ **Tell him how you got the jewelry dumbass'**_ the blonde heard a familiar voice grumble in his head causing him to look around wildly.

"Kyuubi?" he asked out loud, looking for all the world like he was talking to himself.

' _ **I'm in your head foolish ningen'**_ the fox said in exasperation, constantly amazed at the new levels of stupidity his container was able to achieve. And just when it was looking like he might have been starting to wise up. _**'Just think if you want to communicate. You're the one who had the seal altered after all. And I suggest you do something quick. You're running out of time.'**_

The fox was right, the big blue humanoid was looking like it was a second away from attacking its host. The blonde raised one hand in the air in a non-threatening way. He picked up a stick with his other hand, using it to begin drawing in the dirt on the ground. He drew three stick figures on the ground surrounded by circles, pointing at the confused being before gesturing to the figures. It's eyes lit up in understanding, leaning forward eagerly for the story to continue. The blonde drew a crude campfire with three more stick figures surrounding it, making sure to draw the tusks coming from their heads. A growl from his blue guest showing it understood the depiction. Naruto pointed at himself before slashing through the circles with the stick, drawing them upright again and heading away. Then he gestured at himself again before kicking the other image and destroying the picture of the cannibals. He indicated to the necklace before pointing at one of the running stick figures. The humanoid nodded once, tucking the jewelry into his waistband before walking back towards his cargo. He tore the remains of the meal off the stick before ripping a hind leg from the raptor carcass and skewering it. The new food was placed back over the fire before the creature took it's leave, taking the dead raptors back to the castle.

"Did I just make a friend?" the blonde asked himself as he watched the creature walk away.

 _ **'No'**_ was the unwanted reply from his tenant, **'** _ **but you didn't get us killed either. That's more than I ever expected from you.'**_

XXXXX

The next day found the blonde shinobi sitting on a dock in the cove on the other side of the castle near the broken bridge. The previous night was used as cover for a team of ten clones to move along the cliff face in an attempt to avoid the blue giants in the castle and the lizard men in the ocean. The house on the shore of the cove had been stripped down to the frames and the beached ship looted for anything not nailed down. The original Naruto had quickly grown tired of 'supervising' the team of clones and had taken the opportunity to further explore the area.

There hadn't been any sign of the underwater lizard men for the entire night along the shore. It was a major disappointment Naruto who had been looking forward to seeing the friendly one again who had waved to him before. Grabbing an abandoned fishing pole that had been discovered on the ship, the blonde took a pot full of worms dug up by a helpful clone and moved to the end of the dock as the sun began to peek over the hillside behind him. The water was clear enough for him to spy the sea life as it swam around the coral a little farther out in the ocean. It was time to see if he could find something to eat besides raptor.

XXXXX

Skas slowly swam through the ocean, his movements borderline lazy as he had no particular place to be. His patrol shift had ended with the coming of dawn on the surface, signaling that he was free to enjoy life again until he was called to help defend the settlement. Not much happened in their part of the ocean, which was why the younger warriors were allowed to patrol without supervision. It allowed him more freedom than some of the other colonies would, but the good was leveled out by the crushing boredom. The only real excitement in weeks had been that strange spell used by the young human intruder who had teleported away after being captured. Rest sounded good right now, preferably back in his home on his nice, soft kelp bed. He had barely started moving towards his objective when his stomach gave a growl that could rival one of the snapdragon guardians that surrounded the village. He made a wide turn towards the shore, heading towards the local fishery.

The portion of the reef that housed one of the fish hatcheries was surprisingly calm as he swam towards it's boundary. There usually was one or two naga placed there to drive away the larger predators, allowing for fast growth of the fish population. Skas couldn't see another soul in sight though as he searched around the lookout station set up to house the guards. Chalking it down to laziness from his nest mates, he moved into the reef through a hole in the netting intent on finding his meal. His eyes were immediately drawn towards a school of black fish with yellow stripes, a group of smaller ones orbited around one of their kind that was almost the size of his head. The young naga shot off like a rocket towards his future dinner, jaws parting and arms outstretched in anticipation. His prey noticed his approach, quickly turning away and shooting off with a powerful swish of its tail. The chase was on, both participants leaving a large cloud of bubbles to mark their path as they shot around the enclosed area. Skas slowly bracketed the fish to the side of the cage, giving it less and less room to maneuver. The chase was almost over when the fish charged right at him, catching the young naga flat footed as it swam through the still open hatch to the ocean. The water lizard cursed his foolishness, quickly leaving the cage and closing the gate before continuing his pursuit.

He swiftly angled around the fish, cutting off it's escape into the open ocean and forcing it towards the shallow water of the cove. Skas could feel his mouth watering as he watched the tasty morsel frantically circle the pylons of the old pier, the fish unable to find a hiding spot from its attacker. The naga circled behind the rotting piece of wood, ceasing all movement to not give away his position as his prey swam by. He surged forward around the wood, the fish almost moving in slow motion as it tried to escape. He closed in, his claws almost grasping his prize when the sunlight reflected off something small and metallic, temporarily blinding him. He blinked hard to clear his eyes, quickly opening them to only find empty water with a hint of blood expanding into a cloud as it dispersed itself into the surrounding liquid. He turned in a quick circle, unable to find his future meal. A quick glance down revealed nothing and left only one direction remaining. He looked upwards just in time to see the fish as it was pulled out of the water. 'This isn't over!' he roared in his mind as he swam upwards, picking up more and more speed as he neared the surface.

"Ohhh! That's a pretty one!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he pulled a large black fish with yellow stripes off of his hook and throwing it into a bucket next to him that was already half full from his previous catches. 'I think that'll last me for the next few days' he reflected as he wound the fishing line around the pole for safekeeping before sealing it up in an open spot on his back. He slowly pushed himself to his feet and cracked his back, several hours sitting in the same position on the hard wood surface not doing his body any favors. The blonde nearly jumped out of his skin in fright as a huge shape surged up out of the water, flipping twice before landing in a crouch in the middle of the pier, blocking his way back to the beach.

Skas slowly rose to his full height until he was standing eye to eye with the blonde thief. Wait... he knew this human! It was the same one who had invaded naga territory only to disappear after being captured, leaving Skas to get berated by his leader for not being attentive enough to stop the escape. By the Titans! He would get his vengeance no matter what it took. He opened his mouth and displayed his fearsome teeth while drawing his trident from the sheath on his back. The fins on his shoulders, head, and neck all raised up as he hissed angrily, making him even more fearsome to his foe.

Unfortunately, the intimidation tactics were not having the intended effect on the blonde shinobi. Naruto's head tilted to the side as he regarded the being in front of him, this was the first good opportunity to see one that wasn't distorted by water. He compared it to Kisame in his shark form before quickly dropping the idea. This looked more like a cross between a dragon and a sea snake, its upper body bulkier than his own and covered in sharp looking green scales. The ninja's attempt to categorize the reptile was quickly interrupted as the enemy withdrew it's trident and brandished it at him. It hissed at him for a few seconds, angrily gesturing towards itself and the sea with its weapon only to grow even more agitated at the blonde's inability to understand it.

'Enough' Skas raged as he slithered towards the human, intent on impaling him. He had warned the worthless fool of his trespass and the consequences. It was not his fault that it's unevolved brain couldn't understand the glorious language of the naga. He would capture this human and take him back to the outpost to be tried for poaching their fish and attempting to infiltrate their territory. The only problem was that the little rat refused to comply with being caught. It dodged each swing of his trident as if he was attacking in slow motion, casually leaning just enough to dodge the attacks without actually moving from his spot. The human finally grew tired of being attacked, making a fist and reaching back as if to throw a bare handed punch. Skas couldn't help but be amused, feeling the opportunity to establish naga superiority was just too good to pass up. His smile was all teeth as he lowered his guard while simultaneously clenching his muscles and hardening his scales in preparation. His confidence lasted until right before the punch landed, the human giving him an equally fierce grin in return before his fist glowed blue and the punch doubled in speed as it flew towards him. "What did you.." he hissed before the blow landed in his solar plexus, driving the wind out of him and sending him rolling backwards twice.

He slowing pushed himself back upwards, wheezing for air as he re-evaluated the threat that this human represented. Standard naga tactics were to win with superior might, or if the opponent was stronger, use overwhelming numbers. Skas was alone, without another naga anywhere near him to his knowledge. This was a fight he was no longer confident of winning seeing as how the human was too fast to hit and too strong to outlast. Determined not to leave without at least claiming one victory, Skas roared loudly, making a show of preparing for another charge. The yellow-haired human crouched down in preparation just as he had hoped for. The naga drew his arm back before hurling his trident at his opponent.

Naruto jumped over the weapon, easily clearing the danger zone. Was this beast an idiot? It had just disarmed itself after the ninja had already proven he was too fast to be hit. Maybe the punch had scrambled it's brains more than he thought… As he reached the apex of the jump, the creature gave what could only be considered a draconic laugh before lunging for the basket of fish. Naruto was helpless to stop him, only able to glare in impotent rage as the dragon snake thing stole his prize fish before rolling off the dock into the water. The rest of the fish spilled out into the water as well, ruining his dinner plans adding insult to injury. This would not stand. He quickly jumped down onto the water before running along it in the direction the thief had made his escape.

Skas couldn't be prouder. He had retrieved his fish, made a fool of the trespasser, and even recovered his trident on the way back towards the reef. This story would be worth bragging about to his neighbors, as long as he omitted the embarrassing parts. He felt a change in the sunlight, causing him to look upwards. He frowned as he looked to the surface of the ocean. If he didn't know any better, it almost looked like something was standing on the water directly above him. But there was no way that could ever happen. A disturbance in the water caused him to instinctively dodge to the left, barely avoiding the blonde human from before as it shot past him and arced back towards surface as if he was being propelled by bubbles shooting from his legs. The naga dodged a second blonde, this time coming from a different direction. A third shot by, this time close enough to brush his skin! A forth came at him before the third could even leave, showing that there were multiple identical foes much to the naga's confusion. He was so busy fighting off the blonde attackers that he never noticed the loop of wire that circled around his neck, lowered by the figure still standing on the surface of the water. His eyes bulged as the wire tightened around his neck before he was pulled upwards as the world began to go dark and he knew no more.

XXXXXX

The crackling of the fire brought the naga back from unconsciousness. His nose picked up the scent of food prompting his mouth to begin salivating until he inhaled his own spit, causing him to choke as a foreign liquid entered his lungs. He growled softly in pain as he sat up, rubbing the tender section of his throat. He paused as his eyes took in the campfire that he was now sitting at, confusion causing him to try and recall what happened before it all came rushing back in an instant. He spun around in a quick circle, scanning for his enemy before he spotted the blonde menace standing at the edge of the cliff. Skas thanked the dark rift that the human hadn't taken the time to secure him after the capture, giving him the opportunity to overcome his attacker. He quietly slithered forward while preparing his claws for a quick strike, only for the blonde to look over his shoulder before he reached optimal striking distance. The blonde continued to do the unexpected, ignoring the imminent threat and signaling for the naga to come and look at what ever had gotten it's attention. Perplexed, Skas lowered his arms before slithering to the edge of the cliff, while making sure a safe distance from the man. The human spoke in gibberish before pointing to the base of the cliff. Dropping to his belly, the naga inched his head over the rock face before letting out a string of curses. It looked as if the human had done him a favor bringing him up to his camp instead of leaving him in the ocean.

Three sea giants were now wading through the ocean, directly on the border of his people's outpost. There was no love lost between the giants and naga, both attacking the other on sight as they were viewed as interlopers in the rightful owner's domain of the sea. He hissed in anger as he saw the warriors of his tribe rise from the ocean floor to meet the giants, the sea witches launching bolts of magic from range as the warriors and myrmidons moved in to engage in close combat. He knew one giant could be handled easily enough, but these three were working as a team and covering each other's blind spots. He winced as he watched one of the myrmidons take a brutal hit from a club, it's body clearing the water as it was knocked farther out to sea before it sank lifelessly below the waves again. The naga flexed his claws as he prepared to dive from the cliff, mentally preparing to quite possibly die with the rest of his people in a hopeless battle.

He was stopped by his own trident, now held against his chest by the human as it stood next to him. The human rapidly shook its head as it spouted more gibberish before gesturing for him to follow as it moved back towards the campfire. Skas wavered in place, the need to join his people warring with the desperation to see if the human had a plan to help. With an agitated hiss, he surged off after the blonde, catching up as they reached the hillside on the other side of the cooking fire. The human gibbered again before pointing at the pile of large boulders that ranged in size from small to as big as the naga himself. Skas stared in confusion, not understanding what the human was trying to tell him. The creature huffed in annoyance before creating five copies of himself. Positioning themselves behind the largest rocks, they began to push them slowly towards the cliff. The naga roared in excitement as he caught on to the plan, quickly positioning himself behind the largest rock and throwing his shoulder into it. The boulder quickly arrived at the edge, Skas positioned behind it while the human hung over the side of the cliff observing the battle. At the blonde's shout, Skas drove forward, hurling the boulder off the cliff's edge before quickly joining the blonde to watch. The boulder picked up speed as it fell, colliding with the hillside once and causing a mini avalanche before it bounced back into a freefall. It landed on the head of the lead giant with a sickening crack, it's cranium disintegrating from the force of the impact and spraying gore in a wide arc before it's body sank beneath the waves..

The remaining giants froze as bits of blood and brain matter dripped down their faces, unable to process what had caused the sudden death of their leader. Comprehension came a moment later as more large stones began to rain down around them. One landed on the shoulder of the younger giant, breaking the bones and rendering the arm useless. The uninjured one quickly moved to assist his brother, pulling him away from the battle as they retreated back up the coast from whence they came. Skas grabbed his trident from the ground and raised it in victory, roaring at the top of his lungs. The remaining naga all raised their voices in response, paying thanks to their savior as he watched over them from high on the cliff. They gathered their injured and dead before slowly moving back towards their outpost, dragging the body of the giant behind them.

Skas was beside himself, unable to believe that he had done something so heroic to save his people when he had only heard about it in stories before. He roared in thanks to the human who had gone back to his fire, getting a wave in return before holstering his trident and leaping from the cliff. Feeling full of himself, he added two somersaults and a half twist to the dive only to come up short on the landing as he ran out of time. He landed on his belly with a *Splat*, floating on top of the water for a moment before slowly sinking downwards. He held his belly while softly keening in pain, beyond grateful that he was alone in his humiliation. If he looked up, he would have noticed a head pull back from the cliff, the blonde chuckling to himself as he returned to the heat of the fire.

XXXXXX

It had been two days since the battle between the lizards and the giants. Naruto had spent the days building a small house with the supplies he had collected from the cove. The home was built directly into the hillside, making use of the large cave for added living and storage space. He had survived on raptor meat from his previous hunts, full yet unsatisfied. His palate was set on fish, craving it ever since the fishing disaster from two days ago. Unfortunately the blood from the dead giant had attracted packs of sharks to the area, turning the coast into a kill zone for anything remaining in the waters. The blonde had found an old trail down the side of the cliff, allowing him to reach the coast without moving all the way to the cove or wall walking. He perched on a large rock that jutted up out of the ocean, a perfect place to set his line as he prayed that the fish had returned. His patience was quickly rewarded as he felt a pull on the line, signaling that he should reel in his new meal.

Skas preened to himself as he lead his new patrol through the shallows along the cliff face. When he had returned to the outpost, the village leaders had immediately interrogated him on what he was doing on top of the cliff in the first place. He had quickly folded under their glares, giving a detailed summary of his encounter with the human earlier that day. His honesty and bravery had been rewarded, giving him command of his own patrol squad. This was a big deal in a matriarchal society where only exceedingly powerful or intelligent males ever rose up high in the ranks. He was well aware of this as he felt the glare from A'kas, the squad's former leader as well as magical support. The siren did not take kindly to being supplanted by a lowly male and took every opportunity presented to criticize what he was doing wrong.

The newly promoted leader grit his teeth as she stated in again, ignoring her expertly as his eyes scanned the water for any surprises. Wrapping up the patrol, he ordered the men to return to the outpost as he circled back for one final look. The giants had shattered his hope of a peaceful life, forcing him to confront the fact that his people's safety was his responsibility. He smelt blood in the water, catching sight of a fish struggling before it was yanked up to disappear above the waves. Slowly, he rose upwards until his head broke the water just far enough to allow his eyes to see. He grinned feraly as he spied a familiar human with his fishing pole sitting on a rock. He sank back down before swimming in a wide circle towards the rock, determined to stay out of the human's line of sight.

Naruto yawned to himself as he sat back down on the rock again. His fish bucket was almost full after he placed another large black fish with yellow stripes in it. 'I finally get to see what's so good about it' he mentally cheered, getting a mental snort from the Kyuubi for his inane commentary. The fox had spent the last two days instructing him on how to begin training in the elemental release for fire, earth, water, and lightning. Kyuubi had been around in the time of the Sage of the Six Paths, watching as the ninja arts were first developed. While the fox lacked the ability to perform the needed seals himself, he was great at instruction if you managed to ignore the constant mocking and blatant assholery that accompanied it. The shinobi had been spamming clones at an alarming rate to learn the skills as quickly as possible, while impressing the fox at the same time with only using his own chakra. Not once had he attempted to pull the fox's chakra, even making sure to keep his word of maintaining a constant flow to the fox to help him regenerate his tails. This left the blonde in a semi-permanent state of exhaustion, forcing him to run on almost sheer will power and making him eat almost constantly to keep up his chakra regeneration. Naruto may have caught a lot of fish, but they would all be consumed before the day was out.

The ninja was barely staying awake as he watched his line bob in the water, his body on autopilot as the higher functions of his brain shut down due to not being needed. Thus he was caught completely unaware when two scaly claws landed on his lower back, pushing hard enough to propel him off the rock and face first into the water. Naruto swam to the surface, coughing up water he had inhaled while screaming during his unexpected fall. Too his annoyance, the green dragon-snake man was now in his former spot. To add insult to injury, the reptile even had the audacity to rummage through his fish bucket while it sunned itself on the rock. **'Use your training fool'** he heard his tenant mumble, as if waking up from a long nap. The ninja's hands flew into a familiar sign, holding it as he began to disperse chakra into the surrounding water. He lacked the finer control necessary for the more intricate ninjutsu after only a few days of clone training, but he could make a wave with no issues.

Skas found this out a moment later as his laughter died out at the strange human's actions. There had been no cursing or counter attack, the strange blonde just treaded water as he stared at something behind his foe. Turning to see what had the human's attention, the naga came face to face with a wall of water over nine feet high as it began to curl forwards toward him. Skas's fins collapsed against his body in shock before he braced against the wave that collided against him, the force of the water sending the naga flying over the human's head before crashing into the ocean. The naga surfaced a moment later, his ears picking up the sound of the human howling in laughter. His draconic grin grew as he swam forward. Two could play that game.

Naruto couldn't get ahold of himself. The expression on the reptiles face before the wave hit would give him warm fuzzy memories for months to come. It had been so long since he had been able to pull a good prank that he had almost forgotten the joy they could bring. His merriment was interrupted when the dragon-snake shot back out of the water in a graceful flip before crashing down with his tail out, creating a huge splash of water that nearly enveloped the ninja. Shaking water from his head as he swam in place, the ninja stared across at his newest pranking nemesis. Both pairs of eyes narrowed as they glared at each other.

XXXXXX

The shaman of the boulderfist clan sat on the cliff as he overlooked the ocean, a small fire blazing merrily at his side. The ogre elder found it calming outside of the human constructs, where it was easier to get attuned with the natural spirits. His meditation was interrupted by a commotion at the base of the cliff, tempting his curiosity enough to leverage his old bones to his feet to take a look. At first glance, it looked like an unfortunate human had fallen into the ocean and was set upon by a naga patrol. He was tempted to call some of his clan to finish off the fighters while they were distracted, but paused as he got a better look at the 'fight.' Both opponents were barely out of their juvenile stages, not above unnecessary posturing to prove dominance. The ogre grinned as he watched the human pick the naga up before throwing him through the air, only for the reptile to return the favor by wrapping the blonde in his tail before leaping out of the water and slamming his passenger down into the waves. "Play fight" the ogre mumbled to himself as he sat down to watch the show. Never in his long years had he seen two members of the species below tolerate each other to the point of actually having fun. Now that he thought about it, that youngster Thach had mentioned a strange human that had moved into the hills the day before…

 **A/N: Sometimes it's the little things that make a difference in friendships being formed. Just need to get past that damn language barrier…**

 **On a different note, I'm not that well versed in WoW lore anymore. If anyone has suggestions or ideas I'm happy to consider them. Hope you enjoyed the holidays.**


	4. Chapter 4

Looking for Home

Chapter 4: Bitches Just Fallin From the Sky

Dreaming was better than reality. Kurama firmly believed this, seeing as how all he had to look at was a dark cave with its ever present golden bars that constantly reminded him of his slavery to the race of monkeys that had imprisoned him. When he closed his eyes though, he was able to see through the eyes of his container thanks to the adjusted seal. The world's sights and sounds were his to experience again, even if he was only along for the ride. Surrendering himself completely to the dream almost allowed him to feel the wind flow through his fur as the scent of the nearby ocean filled his nostrils.

After being isolated for three generations of containers, it was little wonder that the fox prefered the dream world to his dreary reality. It was also why he hated it when his container chose to visit him. All the fox could see was the same cave and cage, whether his eyes were open or closed.

Thus he frowned in thought as he lowered his head to sleep, only to watch through the blonde human's eyes as he lowered himself into a meditative position before the campfire and closed his own eyes. Naruto's vision came back moments later, now showing the golden bars with the slumbering form of the fox towering behind them.

Kurama broke the connection, opening one eye to see the human standing in front of the cage just out of range of the fox's reach. " **Go away ningen"** he ordered with a huff, not even bothering to try to intimidate the trespasser. Both of them were well past the point of posturing and idle threats. **"It is not time for our next talk and I wish to see something besides these walls."**

"I have a name you know!" the blonde shouted up at the fox, his objective momentarily forgotten in his annoyance. "Why the hell do you keep calling me ningen or human instead of using it?"

" **The same reason you refer to me as Kyuubi instead of realizing I might have a name myself"** was the quick reply from the fox. It had been waiting for the opportunity to say that for three containers now. **"Why should I respect your name when you have no interest in mine?"**

Naruto blinked hard at the realization. He had always assumed that the fox's actual name was Kyuubi since that was what everyone had always referred to it as. "Then what is your real name?" he asked softly, knowing he was only now asking for something that he should have a long time ago.

" **You have not earned the right to know"** was the chakra beast's reply. **"Now leave me before you manage to shame yourself any further."** He closed his eyes again, letting a few seconds go by to reestablish the connection. The first thing he saw was his snout, the point of view being only a few feet away this time.

The foxes eyes flew back open, confirming that the human was now well past the bars and within his cage.

He stared at the human, Naruto returning the gaze as he stood across from the fox with his arms crossed and a relaxed expression on his face.

" **You dare trespass on the one area that belongs to me ningen?"** The fox's fur bristled as he reared back, baring his teeth and growling so loudly that the ninja could feel the vibrations inside of his chest. " **You risk your life for no gain. Leave now before I end you where you stand and take your body for myself!"**

Naruto ignored the indignant threats from the titanic fox, using his pinky to clear out the inside of his ear from the loud volume he had been exposed to. "I don't think you plan on doing anything to me Kyuubi." He blinked as the foxes teeth snapped together bare inches from his face. It took all of his will power to not turn tail and run from the terrifying display. Instead, he began to slowly walk towards the side of the cave. He could feel the fox's eyes tracking him the entire time, not unlike how a lion would watch a field mouse.

"Kami, this really is a terrible way to live" he couldn't help but observe as he felt a drop of water from one of the overhead pipes land on his head and run down his back. "It's no wonder you're always in such a bad mood."

 **"Why do you torment me ningen?"** the fox muttered as he laid back down, crossing his fore paws and resting his head on top of them. **"The fact that I agreed to work with you is the only reason you are still alive at this moment. And I warn you"** his eyes narrowed at his container, **"my patience will not last much longer. Say your piece and be gone."**

The blonde container sat down in front of the fox, crossing his legs before leaning forward on them. "I've been thinking about it ever since we made the agreement. I don't want to leave you stuck in a place like this. You're my partner" he ignored the huffed **"prisoner"** from the fox, "and I feel you should be treated better. Garra told me that he always pictured Shikaku in a desert in his mindscape. Do you know how we can change it in here?"

The fox's face didn't react to the question, though his tails had begun to wave around behind him signaling his interest in the subject to Naruto. The ninja worked to suppress a grin at the sight, knowing the Kyuubi would just get more irritated from him pointing it out.

" **This is a representation of your mind ningen. If I had the knowledge and power to change the environment, do you really believe I would keep it like this?"** The fox raised an eyebrow as the small human's face scrunched up in thought. It looked as if he was going to hurt himself if he kept it up for long.

The fox awaited gleefully to see if it was a possibility. He jumped to his feet in alarm as the world seemed to waver in out of reality for a second before solidifying again. His host seemed to be coming close to having a seizure, his entire body shaking in effort as a thin trail of blood began to run from his nose down his face.

" **Human"** the fox said as he lowered his head to his host's level. He frowned as he was seemingly ignored, leaning forward to push his snout into the blonde's body. **"Stop that human. You're no good to me brain dead."** Still not getting a reply, the Kyuubi huffed before turning in a circle and settling down around the human. If ever asked, he would insist he was simply trapping the primate, not protecting it.

He frowned as the world faded away, bright white being the only thing that could be seen in any direction. It seemed to go on forever. All of a sudden, the blonde ceased shaking and opened his eyes. They looked cloudy, as if he was in a trance. Wordlessly, he raised up his shirt to expose the seal. Dabbing his finger in the blood on his face, he used the liquid to trace a quick line from a spiral on the outer ring of the seal to one of the kanji on inner ring.

Reality shifted again, everything was shrouded in darkness before it peeled back revealing a scene identical to the one his container was experiencing outside. As the world finished forming, the blonde's eyes rolled back in his head before he pitched backwards in a dead faint. The fox moved quickly, snaking a tail around to cushion his container's landing before he hit the ground. He watched intently as the human's eyes moved rapidly behind his eyelids, his body tensing at random intervals.

The Kyuubi settled down in comfort as the sun beat down on his head and the wind blew through his fur. He resolved to keep an eye on the human until he woke up from whatever dream it was experiencing. It was the least he could do after all.

XXXXX

Naruto stared into the fire, his body was stationary as the world moved on around him. The blonde ninja was about attempt to traverse his seal, something he had promised Jiraiya he would never do unsupervised after he had stumbled into it by accident the first time. The sage had described it as an old Uzumaki clan technique but there was no written record of it ever being observed, the skill having passed on into legend over the years.

The blonde ninja had pushed deep into his chakra while attempting to help the Kyuubi, following it's pathways through his body until he had arrived at the large seal on his navel. He followed his chakra into the seal itself, pushing past the token resistance it put up before delving deep into it in an attempt to understand it.

He had traveled for what felt like hours when a hand suddenly appeared in front of him, grabbing onto his shirt and bodily pulling him out of the chakra stream into a small cave. He was slammed into the wall, jarring his teeth from the impact as he was held off the ground by a pair of hands that gripped his shirt. He closed his eyes in pain, missing the identity of his assailant.

"I don't know who you think you are" an angry female voice shouted inches from his face, "but you have a lot of balls trying to infiltrate my seal!" The sounds of chains clanking together could be heard as he was shook hard, the sudden motion not allowing him the time he needed to clear his head. "And how dare you try to impersonate my husband!' she continued on her tirade, seemingly able to continue talking without the need to stop and take a breath. "You didn't even do a good job! The face shape is all wrong and he never had whisker marks on his cheeks…"

Naruto heard her trail off as he was slowly set on the ground. He almost jumped as he felt a hand softly caress his whisker marks, the area always being super sensitive. He couldn't hold back the involuntarily purr that came from deep in his throat at the sensation, much to his mortification. Only one person knew of his weakness.

Jiraiya had dumped him in a brothel for the night during their training journey, intent on making his student lose his virginity before an enemy kunoichi was able to seduce him on a mission. The prostitute had sat with him for hours, just talking about life in general. She had commented on how she loved his whisker marks, proceeding to stroke them. His subsequent purring had been so adorable that she had spent the rest of the night slowly caressing them until he was a left a quivering mess. They had mutually agreed to never speak of it again, her in the hope of not losing her pay and him for not having such an embarrassing weakness exposed.

The woman had kept her word, and he had forgotten about the incident entirely until this stranger's ministrations brought it all crashing back. This mattered not to her though as he heard her voice quiver in disbelief. "Naru-chan?"

Hearing that, his eyes flew open to find a woman he had never seen before staring at him intently. Her blue eyes panned over his body, taking in every inch with a critical eye. They were framed by a head of bright red hair that fell down well past her shoulders. The only thing he could think about was how familiar she seemed though. He gave a tentative nod at her question, unsure as to why he felt he could blindly trust her but choosing to go with his instincts.

Without warning, he was pulled into a hug that was so tight it squeezed the air from his lungs as his ribs began to creak. The mysterious woman's smile lit up the cave with its intensity as she twirled him in a circle before putting him down at arm length and began to talk a mile a minute. Her speed put even Ino and Sakura's gossiping skills to shame. The poor blonde was able to pick up only one word in four, choosing to simply nod along in the hope of appeasing her.

His actions were quickly picked up on by the red head. She began to frown, her eyebrow starting to twitch as her annoyance grew before it came to a head. She smacked him upside the head, putting her hands on her hips as she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "God you are just like your father! He never listened to me either, always just nodding and zoning out. Dattebane…"

"Wait a second…" Naruto felt weak in the knees as his brain finally made the connection that his instincts had already known. "Mom?" he asked in a quiet voice, frightened at the possibility that he might be wrong after getting his hopes up for the first time since childhood. His fears were dashed as she gave him a soft smile as she nodded. She found herself wrapped up in a hug this time, softly running her hand through his hair as he cried into her chest.

She let him enjoy the moment, smiling softly as she held her son. She had to admit, it was slightly annoying that he had already outgrown her, reaching close to his father's height and still young enough to shoot up a few more inches before he finished. A small pulse in her chakra brought the unwelcome reminder that she was on a time limit though that was rapidly coming to an end.

She gently pushed him back until he was an arms length away, taking the opportunity to look him over in detail this time. Her eye immediately caught the changes done to the containment seal, the original work having been done just moments ago to her perspective. 'What were you thinking Minato?' she questioned to herself, knowing only her husband could have made the adjustments she was seeing. "Why are you even in the seal Naruto?" she asked absently as she traced the new markings with her finger, making her son shiver from the touch.

"I'm trying to help Kyuubi" he explained, choosing to ignore the frown she developed he when mentioned the fox. "Other jinchuuriki are able to change their mindscape to make their tenants more comfortable. I can't seem to do it though and it feels like the seal is blocking me. I was trying to explore it to find out where the problem might originate."

His eyes narrowed as his brain finally chose to move past the here and now and examine the bigger picture. "I can understand dad leaving part of himself behind in case I needed help with the seal. He's the one who applied it to me after all. That doesn't explain how you're here though."

Kushina huffed in exasperation at her son's obliviousness. 'It figures he's inherit that from me even with his father's genes there to counteract it' she lamented while blowing a bang out of her vision that had fallen from her forehead. "I trained your father in the sealing arts, as well as helped him make your seal. You really think I wouldn't put some of my chakra into it in case you needed my help?"

Naruto perked up as he heard her explanation, excited to finally have a lead in how to solve his problem. If he was being honest with himself, he had completely playing the situation by ear and hoped he would spot something that might stand out. He had only delved into basic seals before, Jiraiya explaining that his Uzumaki heritage would allow him to know seals more intimately than anyone else in the Elemental Nations. The sage couldn't give any details on the process though, forcing the blonde to figure it out for himself after years of trial and error with countless shadow clones.

"Can you help me mom?" he begged, unleashing the puppy eyes to their full extent with a quivering lip thrown in. "I want to make life better for the Kyuubi. He's been locked up for so long and hasn't had anyone to talk to the whole time."

Kushina tried to fight, she really did. The fox that had lead to her death was not something that needed any kind of freedom as far as she was concerned. The mental battle ended quickly though, the mother unable to deny her son's earnest request. 'I'll put my trust in him' she thought with a fond smile before crouching down to get a closer look at the seal.

"I can do it" she confirmed, standing back up with a smile at his excitement. "It'll take the rest of my chakra though." She quickly held up her hand, stopping his protests before they could start. "I'm effectively a shadow clone anyways Naru-chan, living on borrowed time from the moment I came into being. I can't think of a better way to go than helping my baby fulfill his dreams." She smiled softly before pulling him into another hug. "Just make sure not to waste this opportunity dattebane."

The blonde tried to suppress his tears as he held onto mother for dear life, unwilling to give her up after finally meeting her. She was even better than the image of her he had created in his dreams as an attempt to fight off the loneliness. "I promise" he whispered, his arms going slack as her chakra lost it's form before rushing into his body. His world went black as he felt himself enveloped in the warm familiar life energy, as if it was hugging him from all sides at once.

Too soon, the chakra began to fade, leaving him alone again in the darkness. It was much worse this time, now that he knew just what he had lost. A warm breeze brushed against his face, reminding him that life was still moving on around him whether he chose to participate or not.

His eyes opened again, showing his campfire had begun to die down from neglect. Only a pile of softly glowing embers remained of what had been a fire reaching his eye level when he began his meditation. The shinobi pushed himself to his feet, stretching his fists towards the sky until he felt his back pop rewarding him with a surge of equal amounts of pain and relief from his abused spine.

Naruto turned towards the cliff, searching for the setting sun in an attempt to gauge what time it was. He froze. A titanic red fox now sat in his favorite spot, it's nine tails swishing back and forth lazily as it watched the waves crest before racing towards the rocks below. The blonde began to back away slowly, intent on hiding in his cave as he frantically examined his seal in an attempt to figure out what had gone wrong.

He had not made it two steps before a huff of air came from the fox, it's posture not changing even as one of the gigantic red tails quickly enveloped the ninja. It's fur was surprising silky as it gripped him hard enough to lift him off the ground before depositing him next to the bijju. " **Stop being a dumbass** " the chakra beast ordered, rolling his eyes at his containers terrible attempt at stealth. " **We're still in the seal.** " It paused for a moment, it's face screwed up in a frown as if having an internal debate. " **I watched what you sacrificed for me… Thank you Naruto.** "

The ninja perked up at the show of gratitude, excited to finally be making progress with the last remnant of his home. The fox had even called him by his name! "Does this mean I finally get to find out your true name?" he asked, waiting with baited breath.

" **No** " was the quick response, crushing his hopes as he hung his head in depression. " **But I do feel as if I owe you one so allow me to return a spark of your hope as you have done to mine.** " The kyuubi's chakra flared, causing Naruto's seal to show up on his stomach as well. " **I've been able to sense at least four more portions of your mother's chakra in different parts of that seal** " it explained, while using one his tails to gesture towards the inner portion of the ink. " **You might meet her again before you reach the end of your journey**."

Naruto said nothing, choosing to enjoy the silence as he took a seat on the cliff face next to the fox. The dream world really did look exactly like the waking one. He sent a pulse of his chakra towards the seal, content that the returning chakra from the bijju hadn't changed since the alterations had been accomplished. If he concentrated hard enough, he could feel faint traces of both of his parents' chakra as well. It felt as if they were still there, silently backing him up on his path to the future.

Smiling contentedly, Naruto leaned against the fox as he watched the sun start to sink beyond the waves. He ignored the snort of contempt from the fox, instead dwelling on the fact that he hadn't been thrown off of his companion yet. The glass was half full again as far as the young shinobi was concerned. Tomorrow was a new day. He would begin training twice as hard.

XXXXXX

Fuza cried softly as she glided through the air, the warm gusts barely keeping her aloft as she tried to maintain consciousness through the pain of the two arrows sticking out of her abdomen and left thigh. She was too exhausted to flap her wings enough to gain any altitude, leaving her continued survival at the fate of the wind goddess. She spotted a lone mountain that stood proudly on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, reminding her of her people's ironclad will for survival even as the stood alone against all of their foes. The young harpy tilted her body slightly, happy to see her new trajectory would take her towards the mountain's peak.

Her landing was less than spectacular, although the lack of witnesses allowed her to move past it without a second thought. A quick scan allowed Fuza to verify that she was indeed alone, isolated from the rest of the world by the steep mountainsides below her. Using one of the first tricks taught to hatchlings, she found a narrow crack in the rock and promptly wedged her body into it, taking care not to jostle the arrows. With the risk of falling not an issue any longer, the young harpy closed her eyes as she dredged up the last of her magic that her body had managed to recover. She forced it inwards with her will, enjoying the warm feeling as it lessened the pain. Her eyes began to grow heavy as her adrenalin finally began to wane. The bird woman lolled off into a fitful sleep, pleasant dreams would not be in her future any time soon.

 _Fuza raised her head proudly as she stood before her mother, the queen of the Darkcry clan. Today was the day that the young harpy would finally be welcomed into the flock as an adult by the rest of her sisters. She had worked twice as hard as any of her nest mates during their years of training. It was impossible to escape from her mother's shadow, all of the adults constantly expecting great things from her for no other reason than her parentage._

 _That would change after today though. The Darkcry clan had been dislodged from their ancestral lands in the corner of the plains when the land stealers calling themselves the Horde had driven them out before setting up a giant nest of stone and rock. Fuza's grandmother had died that day as she led her people into battle. It had been a massacre, harpy claws and tribal magic being no match for the Horde's weapons and armor. Her mother had earned her title of queen that day, leading the survivors of the flock into the mountains to establish a new nest farther into the mountain range. It was safe from their enemies, but food was scarce as hunting parties had to range much further now._

 _The harpy princess would be the one to bring her people back to their rightful lands again. Six of her sisters had volunteered to join her to scout the enemy camp, standing proudly behind her as they all received the blessing from the queen before taking to the sky in formation with her in the lead position. The cheers of their sisters echoed through the mountains, accompanying them as they approached the final peak that stood between them and the plains._

 _The first few hours had gone well enough, the harpies all staying high in the sky as they loitered above the enemy camp. They remained well out of missile range as they observed their enemies mill around in confusion below. It was surprising how few there actually were. The stories had always told of a horde of the land stealers, so numerous that you couldn't make out the grass beneath their feet. Fuza actually began to feel hope that her flock might be able to win a fight this time._

 _Then, a blue circle of magic had appeared out of thin air before two people stepped through. One of them was clad in dark robes, hiding his features from the world. He was soon revealed as a magic user however as he raised his staff towards her sisters, sending a large fireball upwards that was easily dodged by the agile bird women._

 _The other newcomer who had been ignored before now lowered himself into the grass as he sat and closed his eyes. He was one of those ugly green skins who had led the slaughter of her people. All of a sudden, a wooden totem burst into existence next to him as his eyes began to glow with power. He raised a green skin hand towards the sky before slowly turning it over and swiping downwards._

 _To Fuza's horror, the air itself seemed to obey his command as if the sky goddess had abandoned her people in their hour of need. A huge gust of wind slammed into them from above, driving the harpies downward before they were able to level out their flight paths again. Too late, they noticed that the rest of the Horde had taken the opportunity to finally attack the enemy that had entered their range. Her sisters fell from the sky one by one as their wings were pierced by arrows or fireballs incinerated their feathers, leaving them with nothing to stay aloft._

 _Fuza had cried tears of rage as she watched them die, her need for vengeance warring with her survival instincts. It was all she could do to turn away from the battlefield, ignoring her wounds as she flew westward. The route to her people was closed for the immediate future with the magic user turning the very air against her flock._

The grieving harpy let out a squawk of alarm as she was awoken with a start. Pebbles fell down onto her head as the mountain softly shook around her. She scrambled to escape her sleeping spot, hitting the arrow in her thigh hard enough to tear the flesh and start bleeding all over again. She slowly inched towards the side of the mountain, peeking over it to see what was causing the morning disturbance.

To her surprise, a single blonde human stood in a crater gouged out of the side of the mountain about fifty meters farther down from her. His chest slowly heaved as he worked to regain his breath, wobbling slightly on his feet. Next to him was the body of a mountain goat, it's head missing as it's body hung partially over the cliff. Gravity seemed eager to assist the human, using it's force to pull the blood from the goat carcass and cast it down on the rocks below.

Fuza licked her lips as she stared at the goat, her stomach practically screaming it's desire for her to take a portion of the kill for herself. It was only one human, already weak from the hunt. He would soon learn to fear the Darkcry clan as so many other land stealers did. She launched herself off the cliff.

XXXXXX

It wasn't some mystical ninja trick or sixth sense developed by chakra that let Naruto know he was in danger. As he looked down at the goat, he noticed that his shadow seemed to be growing at an alarming rate. He quickly turned his eyes to the sky, just in time to see a bird woman swooping towards him with her talons extended in anticipation of the pending attack. She let out a screech of anger upon being discovered early, but was already too committed to her attack to pull off.

Thinking fast, Naruto pulled a smoke bomb from his leg pouch. He threw it to the ground, releasing a dark cloud before diving to the side as it hid him from view. Less than a second later, a squawk of pain could be heard from his previous position as the bird lady plowed into the unyielding stone instead of the expected soft target. The smoke began to clear, revealing his attacker laying on her belly in a less than dignified position with one wing bent at an angle that clearly wasn't natural.

He frowned as he heard her stomach gurgle even as she made a low keening noise from the pain she was in. It was almost as if he had been forgotten entirely as she slowly dragged herself towards his kill, hunger clear on her surprisingly human like expression. It had always been his curse as a shinobi growing up. He was unable to kill women unless in a life or death situation. Jiraya had tried to break him of the mindset, before giving it up as a lost cause. Sighing to himself, the ninja formed a clone of himself that shouldered the goat before jumping down the mountain. The real Naruto slowly walked towards the now unconscious bird woman, pulling out a roll of bandages as he knelt to examine her arrow wounds.

XXXXXX

Skas cursed to himself as he slowly pulled himself up the narrow path on the side of the cliff. His patrol wasn't set to go out for another two days and he had found himself with nothing to pass the time. None of the other naga wanted to be around him, much to his frustration. The other males held him in high regard for gaining rank so swiftly, but refused to associate with him thanks to the females. The fairer sex had all but blackballed him for being a male to pround to accept his traditional place and attempting to buck tradition. With no prospects for either friendship or romance, the young naga had decided to turn towards the only other being he knew.

'The blonde human was at least always up for a good time' the naga reminded himself as he pulled himself over another boulder, diggin his claws into the rock to avoid falling back into the sea below. The thought of interaction with someone friendly was all the motivation the naga needed to finish his climb.

His nostrils flared as they picked up the scent of meat that wafted over the clearing. A large fire was blazing merrily in the middle of the cooking circle as the body of an unknown animal hung on a stick over the flames. The reptile swallowed the drool pooling in his mouth as he looked for the owner of the camp, only to come up empty. Heavy footsteps alerted him that he wasn't alone, his body tensing as an ogre slowly ambled into the clearing with a dead raptor thrown over his shoulder. The being stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted the naga hunched and ready for attack. A growl rippled from his throat, matched by the reptile's angry hiss as they both postured to look as large as possible.

Their pre battle contest was interrupted as the owner of the camp jumped down the side of the cliff to land a few feet from the fire. Both of them stared dumbly at the human as he slowly lowered a tied up harpy from his shoulders to the ground, using a log to prop her head up like a pillow. Their fight all but forgotten as they tried to figure out what the purpose was for bringing one of the bird women into his home.

The blonde stood up from his completed duty, cracking his back before he took in his two guests with a large grin. He raced over to the ogre, gesturing towards the raptor that the blue being held possessively. The ogre regarded him with a look of uncertainty for a moment before relinquishing his kill with a grunt. The blonde gave a small cheer before staking the raptor over the fire and applying some spices for seasoning.

Skas watched in borderline amusement as the human approached him next, all but reaching for the fish in his kelp backpack. Not taking the invasion of his personal space laying down, the naga quickly slithered around the human and began to constrict, only to realize that he had captured a patchwork dummy with a set of straw hair. He heard the ogre grunt in amusement, looking to the ground in shame at having been tricked so easily by the primate. The human, he noticed, was already back at the fire preparing the fish and putting them to the flame as well. The scents of the various meats easily complemented each other, adding to the already intoxicating aroma. Both of the visitors found themselves seated by the fire, transfixed by the slowly cooking meat before they could even recall that they should be at each other's throats.

The budding confrontation was headed off as the human made a few noises in the primitive speech of his before looking back towards his prisoner. The harpy moaned as she groggily shook her head to remove the mental cobwebs that came with being knocked out. She sniffed the air before focusing on the food as it cooked. After a moment, she was able to regain her mental facilities away from her stomach, allowing her to take in her failed ambush victim and his two 'guests.'

Ironically, three species that hated each other on general principle and one displaced shinobi all shared the exact same thought at the exact same time. 'What now?'

 **A/N: I'm back. Just binge watched the first season of Stranger Things in one night and am now using the lucidity that one gains from lack of sleep to pump out this chapter. I swear the sheriff in that show reminds me of Jack Nicholson from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. When you're the only sane adult in the room, sometimes it's a handicap instead of a blessing.**


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